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the origins of contemporary france-5-第6章

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more than the ministers; and in each bureau he knows as much as the

clerks。  〃On his table'58' lie reports of the positions of his forces

on land and on water。  He has furnished the plans of these; and fresh

ones are issued every month〃; such is the daily reading he likes best。



〃I have my reports on positions always at hand; my memory for an

Alexandrine is not good; but I never forget a syllable of my reports

on positions。  I shall find them in my room this evening; and I shall

not go to bed until I have read them。〃



He always knows 〃his position〃 on land and at sea better than is known

in the War and Navy departments; better even than his staff…officers

the number; size; and qualities of his ships in or out of port; the

present and future state of vessels under construction; the

composition and strength of their crews; the formation; organization;

staff of officers; material; stations; and enlistments; past and to

come; of each army corps and of each regiment。  It is the same in the

financial and diplomatic services; in every branch of the

administration; laic or ecclesiastical; in the physical order and in

the moral order。  His topographical memory and his geographical

conception of countries; places; ground; and obstacles culminate in an

inward vision which he evokes at will; and which; years afterwards;

revives as fresh as on the first day。  His calculation of distances;

marches; and maneuvers is so rigid a mathematical operation that;

frequently; at a distance of two or four hundred leagues;'59' his

military foresight; calculated two or four months ahead; turns out

correct; almost on the day named; and precisely on the spot

designated。'60' Add to this one other faculty; and the rarest of all。

For; if things turn out as he foresaw they would; it is because; as

with great chess…players; he has accurately measured not alone the

mechanical moves of the pieces; but the character and talent of his

adversary; 〃sounded his draft of water;〃 and divined his probable

mistakes。  He has added the calculation of physical quantities and

probabilities to the calculation of moral quantities and

probabilities; thus showing himself as great a psychologist as he is

an accomplished strategist。  In fact; no one has surpassed him in the

art of judging the condition and motives of an individual or of a

group of people; the real motives; permanent or temporary; which drive

or curb men in general or this or that man in particular; the

incentives to be employed; the kind and degree of pressure to be

employed。  This central faculty rules all the others; and in the art

of mastering Man his genius is found supreme。





III。  His acute Understanding of Others。



His psychological faculty and way of getting at the thought and

feeling of others。… His self…analysis。  … How he imagines a general

situation by selecting a particular case; imagining the invisible

interior by deducting from the visible exterior。  … Originality and

superiority of his style and discourse。  … His adaptation of these to

his hearers and to circumstances。  … His notation and calculation of

serviceable motives。



No faculty is more precious for a political engineer; for the forces

he acts upon are never other than human passions。  But how; except

through divination; can these passions; which grow out of the deepest

sentiments; be reached? How; save by conjecture; can forces be

estimated which seem to defy all measurement? On this dark and

uncertain ground; where one has to grope one's way; Napoleon moves

with almost absolute certainty; he moves promptly。  First of all; he

studies himself; indeed; to find one's way into another's soul

requires; preliminarily; that one should dive deep into one's own。'61'



〃I have always delighted in analysis;〃 said he; one day; 〃and should I

ever fall seriously in love I would take my sentiment to pieces。  Why

and How are such important questions one cannot put them to one's self

too often。〃



 〃It is certain;〃 writes an observer; 〃that he; of all men; is the one

who has most meditated on the why which controls human actions。〃



His method; that of the experimental sciences; consists in testing

every hypothesis or deduction by some positive fact; observed by him

under definite conditions; a physical force being ascertained and

accurately measured through the deviation of a needle; or through the

rise and fall of a fluid; this or that invisible moral force can

likewise be ascertained and approximately measured through some

emotional sign; some decisive manifestation; consisting of a certain

word; tone; or gesture。  It is these words; tones; and gestures which

he dwells on; he detects inward sentiments by the outward expression;

he figures to himself the internal by the external; by some facial

appearance; some telling attitude; some brief and topical scene; by

such specimen and shortcuts; so well chosen and detailed that they

provide a summary of the innumerable series of analogous cases。  In

this way; the vague; fleeting object is suddenly arrested; brought to

bear; and then gauged and weighed; like some impalpable gas collected

and kept in a graduated transparent glass tube。  … Accordingly; at the

Council of State; while the others; either jurists or administrators;

see abstractions; articles of the law and precedents; he sees people

as they are … the Frenchman; the Italian; the German; that of the

peasant; the workman; the bourgeois; the noble; the returned

émigré;'62' the soldier; the officer and the functionary … everywhere

the individual man as he is; the man who plows; manufactures; fights;

marries; brings forth children; toils; enjoys himself; and dies。  …

Nothing is more striking than the contrast between the dull; grave

arguments advanced by the wise official editor; and Napoleon's own

words caught on the wing; at the moment; vibrating and teeming with

illustrations and imagery。'63' Apropos of divorce; the principle of

which he wishes to maintain:



 〃Consult; now; national manners and customs。  Adultery is no

phenomenon; it is common enough … une affaire de canapé 。  。  。  There

must be some curb on women who commit adultery for trinkets; poetry;

Apollo; and the muses; etc。〃



But if divorce be allowed for incompatibility of temper you undermine

marriage; the fragility of the bond will be apparent the moment the

obligation is contracted;



 〃it is just as if a man said to himself; 'I am going to marry until I

feel different。' 〃



Nullity of marriage must not be too often allowed; once a marriage is

made it is a serious matter to undo it。



 〃Suppose that; in marrying my cousin just arrived from the Indies; I

wed an adventuress。  She bears me children; and I then discover she is

not my cousin … is that marriage valid? Does not public morality

demand that it should be so considered? There has been a mutual

exchange of hearts; of transpiration。〃



On the right of children to be supported and fed although of age; he

says:



 〃Will you allow a father to drive a girl of fifteen out of his house?

A father worth 60;000 francs a year might say to his son; 'You are

stout and fat; go and turn plowman。' The children of a rich father; or

of one in good circumstances; are always entitled to the paternal

porridge。  Strike out their right to be fed; and you compel children

to murder their parents。〃



As to adoption :



 〃You regard this as law…makers and not as statesmen。  It is not a

civil contract nor a judicial contract。  The analysis (of the jurist)

leads to vicious results。  Man is governed by imagination only;

without imagination he is a brute。  It is not for five cents a day;

simply to distinguish himself; that a man consents to be killed; if

you want to electrify him touch his heart。  A notary; who is paid a

fee of twelve francs for his services; cannot do that。  It requires

some other process; a legislative act。  Adoption; what is that? An

imitation by which society tries to counterfeit nature。  It is a new

kind of sacrament。  。  。  。  Society ordains that the bones and blood

of one being shall be changed into the bones and blood of another。  It

is the greatest of all legal acts。  It gives the sentiments of a son

to one who never had them; and reciprocally those of a parent。  Where

ought this to originate? From on high; like a clap of thunder !〃



All his expressions are bright flashes one after another。'64' Nobody;

since Voltaire and Galiani; has launched forth such a profusion of

them; on society; laws; government; France and the French; some

penetrate and explain; like those of Montesquieu; as if with a flash

of lightening。  He does not hammer them out laboriously; but they

burst forth; the outpourings of his intellect; its natural;

involuntary; constant action。  And what adds to their value is that;

outside of councils and private conversations; he abstains from them;

employing them only in the service o
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